Ever Ask Yourself, "What Would The Founding Fathers Think?" Read This Book To Find Out

[ChoppinBroccoli]

The name of the book is, "Real Common Sense," and it's written by Brian Kahn, who is a progressive radio host in Montana. I heard this guy interviewed on the radio this evening, and I enjoyed it so much that I'm going to check out his book as soon as possible. Essentially, he went back through historical documents and tried to figure out what the Founding Fathers' opinions would be on the issues that are taking place today, and how we can form public policy that more closely resembles what the Founding Fathers intended for this country. He also mentioned that he wrote the book with the idea that the people who read it would be hard-working people who don't have a lot of time and/or energy to sit down and read an overly scholarly (or long) tome. So I'm guessing that it should be fairly easy to read and digest.

Again, I haven't read it, but it sounds like something I would really enjoy, particularly when right-wingers start yammering on about what the Founding Fathers would have wanted (as about 99.9999999% of the time, they're wrong). If you would like to check it out, here's a link to it on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Common-Sense-Brian-Kahn/dp/1609801261/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311561984&sr=1-1

[MannyGoldstein]

1. When I point out thet Ben Franklin started the "socialist" Post Office

I blow up the heads of my right-wing friends.

And here's a great quote by George Washington:

“As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.”

[JDPriestly]

6. He also promoted education for African-Americans, the idea of

community volunteer fire departments and subscription libraries which were so successful that we later got public libraries.

Fascinating, creative man who believed in encouraging people to work together to improve the community.

[whatwasthequestion]

2. Thanks for the

recommendation. I'll look it up. Sounds like an interesting read.

[indurancevile]

3. wingers don't really care what the founders wanted, honestly. that's just their

rationalization for what they want. particularly true of rich wingers.

[housewolf]

4. Oh! My library has it!

Well, 3 copies in the county library system, all out but 1 due back on 7/26, and no other holds on it. I should be able to pick it up in a few days!

Cool!

[Ter]

5. They wouldn't be pukes, but they wouldn't be Democrats either

I'm convinced they would all be libertarian Ron Paul zombies.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

8. The Way The Author Describes It...............

................he calls them "Communitarians," in that they believed that people should all take an interest in the betterment of their own communities, but felt it was the government's job to provide the means to allow this to happen. So, there was a real sense of "big government interference" in order to allow the people to improve their own communities (the focus was always on enriching THE COMMUNITY and NOT the enrichment of the self).

So, they wouldn't be Libertarians, because they believed in "big government interference" for the benefit of EVERYONE. Libertarians seem to be focused only on ME, ME, ME. I'm sure if the current crop of Republicans were around back then, the Founding Fathers would have been called Communists.

[Ter]

9. I've studied their writings extensively

I'm gonna personally disagree with the author.

[JDPriestly]

7. Sounds interesting.

[Golden Raisin]

10. The only Founding Father

who counts is Jesus! Hallelujah! :sarcasm: